My homemade black powder

[DoubleBuck]

Unlike almar I have never had a problem of getting my powder too dense as my 12 ton press is likely struggling to get 3,500 psi anyway. I just give the jack all it will handle, wait a minute, and hit it again until the compression is consistent with the previous compressions. Whatever the pressure is, it should be fairly consistent. Good enough for the girls I run with anyway.

Ham;
If you remember back a couple of years ago, nobody was able to get densities up to commercial grades. Several different 'fixes' were proposed, including full pressure for an hour or more; 'cycling' the press from full pressure, to no pressure and back several times over the course of an hour or more; and others.
I figured it out, when Almar first came on here and within three weeks was Grasshopper showing the Masters. He took the brown charcoal cooking seriously, and started making it in a kiln. Low temperature, and slow cooking.
When he started posting his results, he sent me a sample of his charcoal, to check versus the several different woods I had some good test data on.
First rattle out of the box, I pressed a 1.8 G/CC density puck, in five minutes. I was amazed. He's not lying when he says he can press a 2+ density puck and quickly.
Since I started following his lead, and making brown charcoal (with my traditional methods), I have zero problems with density. I agree with him, that the charcoal is the difference. I've tested the difference, and black charcoal powder is hard to get density from. Brown is too easy. It even feels different. Almost 'moist'. It's not easy to mill and I learned to dry it before milling, which cut down on my clumping problems to near zero again. Clumping was the biggest noticeable difference I saw, from the switch. It can be a bear to mill without clumping, but the positives far outweigh the negatives, for me. Speeding up my mill and changing media helped with that, as well.
His charcoal powder is my second fastest powder, to date, of several different woods. Screened Sassafras with 2% dextrin is still my record. Some, I didn't have a chronograph to verify, but all the heads up tests since, have definitely shown his charcoal superior. I have 1-1/2 pounds of Spring cut Sassafras brown, which I have not tested, but hope to soon, which I hope will be up to his par. It looks very good, so far.

[almar]

Maybe screened is the way to go for muskets DB? Does it foul more or less? How about accuracy?

[DoubleBuck]

Maybe screened is the way to go for muskets DB? Does it foul more or less? How about accuracy?

Almar;
IndianJoe and a couple of other people agree, that in a muzzle loader, screened is the way to go, actually.
When I was testing your charcoal, it was an unfair test to go heads up to my screened 2%, because by volume, those 60 grain weighed charges were nearly a third larger than 60 grains of your powder weighed. The screened seemed no more dirty and the accuracy was near HighUinta's Paulownia, which actually seemed to be my most accurate (at 75 yards). But, the accuracy of your powder was greater still yet (at 50 yards which was the only distance I tested yours).
I made a last batch of your powder, in 3f and 75-15-10, of about a half pound, if I remember. I have it stored on my shelf, and call it 'My Precious'. haha I want to shoot it, but I also want to keep it. It's some good s*it, Maynard....

[mmb617]

My experiences have been similar to yours.

I received two of the plastic discs with my Woody's die and that gives one three pucks per compression. I found that the pucks were a bit too thick and I thought I would try thinner pucks as they would be much easier to bust up and grind down so I got more discs and now do five pucks per compression. Thinner dry faster as well.

I'm also using the Woody's die and ordered extra discs as 5 pucks makes them just the right thickness.

Oh, I had to replace the two movable bottom metal cross pieces on my Harbor Freight press as they quickly began to distort. I replaced them with some square metal cut off pieces that I had left over from reinforcing the upper hillside walls of my basement with metal beams. The rest of the press seems to be able to take the pressure, but I also had to replace the 12 ton jack as well since it too quickly shot craps. I replaced it with a different brand of jack, although it also came from China. Hard to find good Made in USA products, thanks to all the politicians over the last few decades that helped entice all the corporations to move overseas.

My HF 12 ton press story has been the same. Early on in my powder making I noticed the bottom support bars were bending so I took care of that, then the jack gave up and was replaced. Now I can see that the top bars are bowing but it's not too bad yet. Eventually I'll probably either have to re-enforce them or buy a bigger press. If I didn't already have a press and was debating between the 12 ton and 20 ton models I'd definitely buy the bigger one. Currently listed at $170 for the 12 ton and $250 for the 20 ton, so it's not an insignificant difference but probably worth it.

[HWooldridge]

It makes perfect sense that overcooked charcoal won't produce higher densities - more of the volatiles are missing, and they weigh more than pure carbon. That tends to circle back to the creosote variable which several folks have touched on in past posts, i.e., a little bit does a lot of good.

I have only been making BP for about a year, but based on my limited experience and research so far, it seems the charcoal selection/quality and the efficiency of the milling process are the two critical items that separate good BP from great BP. It's like a lot of things in life - often doesn't take much effort to hit 95% but that last 5% is a real bitch. It was that extra bit of effort that tended to make English small arms black powder better than what was produced in the rest of Europe.

[HamGunner]

Ham;
If you remember back a couple of years ago, nobody was able to get densities up to commercial grades. Several different 'fixes' were proposed, including full pressure for an hour or more; 'cycling' the press from full pressure, to no pressure and back several times over the course of an hour or more; and others.
I figured it out, when Almar first came on here and within three weeks was Grasshopper showing the Masters. He took the brown charcoal cooking seriously, and started making it in a kiln. Low temperature, and slow cooking.
When he started posting his results, he sent me a sample of his charcoal, to check versus the several different woods I had some good test data on.
First rattle out of the box, I pressed a 1.8 G/CC density puck, in five minutes. I was amazed. He's not lying when he says he can press a 2+ density puck and quickly.
Since I started following his lead, and making brown charcoal (with my traditional methods), I have zero problems with density. I agree with him, that the charcoal is the difference. I've tested the difference, and black charcoal powder is hard to get density from. Brown is too easy. It even feels different. Almost 'moist'. It's not easy to mill and I learned to dry it before milling, which cut down on my clumping problems to near zero again. Clumping was the biggest noticeable difference I saw, from the switch. It can be a bear to mill without clumping, but the positives far outweigh the negatives, for me. Speeding up my mill and changing media helped with that, as well.
His charcoal powder is my second fastest powder, to date, of several different woods. Screened Sassafras with 2% dextrin is still my record. Some, I didn't have a chronograph to verify, but all the heads up tests since, have definitely shown his charcoal superior. I have 1-1/2 pounds of Spring cut Sassafras brown, which I have not tested, but hope to soon, which I hope will be up to his par. It looks very good, so far.

You hit on several things that sure do seem to make a big difference in the milling efficiency and certainly in the density as gathered from all the indications and results that we all have shared. I dried my Potassium Nitrate after it was reduced to flour before milling with the rest of the ingredients this last batch that I made a few weeks ago. I checked the final mill several times throughout a good bit longer 12 hour milling period and this time the caking was not really a problem. Certainly final milling with drier ingredients seems to be much better.

I had a bit of already split up and dried Black Willow wood that I used for charring this last time and done my best with my can inside a can inside my casting furnaces. It was mostly dark brown colored when finished, but I know that the wood around the edges of the inner cans got roasted a bit hotter, so my ending blend of charcoal was not perfect for sure.

I am thinking of trying to char my next batch inside of an old pressure cooker, with the wood suspended inside on a wire rack away from the sides and a thermometer sticking down through the steam vent into the center of one of my small pieces of wood. Hopefully will get a more even distribution of heat.

I am about out of any Black Willow anyway, so in a couple of months when the Sassafras starts to bud again, I am going to debark and cut up some saplings for later use. I can find Black Willow, but I have to drive a ways to get it, while the Sassafras is so much easier to come by around me and it's results have always been very good with just as low an ash as the Black Willow.

Yes, certainly let us know how your Sassafras works out. I am almost convinced that it is as good as anything I have made so far.

[indian joe]

Almar;
IndianJoe and a couple of other people agree, that in a muzzle loader, screened is the way to go, actually.
When I was testing your charcoal, it was an unfair test to go heads up to my screened 2%, because by volume, those 60 grain weighed charges were nearly a third larger than 60 grains of your powder weighed. The screened seemed no more dirty and the accuracy was near HighUinta's Paulownia, which actually seemed to be my most accurate (at 75 yards). But, the accuracy of your powder was greater still yet (at 50 yards which was the only distance I tested yours).
I made a last batch of your powder, in 3f and 75-15-10, of about a half pound, if I remember. I have it stored on my shelf, and call it 'My Precious'. haha I want to shoot it, but I also want to keep it. It's some good s*it, Maynard....

Yes I have had good results with screened powder in my front loaders - and will continue to do that - however laziness is part of the equation - screened is so much easier to make and also easier to regulate the grain size I think - its been no trouble to get used to the increase in volume when we load - its actually easier to load the cap and ball pistols I just fill the cylinder flush and compress it down with the rammer.

[DoubleBuck]

Maybe screened is the way to go for muskets DB? Does it foul more or less? How about accuracy?

Almar;
I got to thinking about the tests I made with your charcoal, and pulled up my notes, because I didn't think I told you right, on this.
I made 4 batches of powder with your charcoal, and was thinking I could get somewhere around 20 shots per batch, of 60 grains each.
I have only tested two of those batches, and left a fifth batch, to refine on which ever one turned out best.
So, I made a batch of 75-15-10 2F, and a batch of 75-15-10 3F of ten shots each. Then, I made a batch of 76-14-10 2F and a batch of 76-14-10 3F, so I could compare your results, and mine. The '2F' was actually the <12 >20 or >18, size, whichever one it was we talked about. So, actually 1.5F? I made 20 loads of that, because that was of our most interest.
The screened powder was 2F and it was my record best until your powder. 1385 fps for 10 shots and 1376 fps for 10 shots on two different days.
Your 1.5F shot a little slower, with 5 shots averaging 1368 and 4 measurable shots at 1372. Almost too little difference to note and the accuracy was really great, as far as groups. That was all of my straight heads up test. 60 weighed grains of 2f 75-15-10.
So, now I ran 5 shots of 3f same recipe, same 60 weighed grains. They shot an average of 1421 fps with a high of 1436. But that was a 36 fps above my screened record of 1385 fps.
I got the new .50 caliber Hawken and loved it so much, it's all I've shot the last couple of visits to the table. Your 3F standard mix shoots over 1600 FPS with that same 60 grain charge. 75 grains was closing in on 1700 feet, but only three shots. I love it.
I still have not shot any of the 76-14-10, and surely need to do that. It's all ready, I just haven't done it, and it's closing in on a year, I'm pretty sure. I apologize that it is the one of your most interest and the last one I will test, it looks like. haha I'll get it tested and post the results for you. But, as I said the other night, the charcoal is awesome, I can tell you that. My next shooting day, I will get that powder and the .58 out and melt some lead....

[almar]

Good stuff DB. The charcoal is just one ingredient, it's an important one but you obviously know how to use it. I haven't made any BP for a while...been focusing on primers and a few rifle builds. But I should be getting my shiloh in a month or 2 I think...that's going to be a real BP hog in 45-110 so I might need to start the factory up again soon.

[FrankJD]

"Spectracide Stump Remover" states "Contains potassium nitrate" - is that 100% or some kinda blend with additives?

It's got salt-like granules so I'll use the ceramic burr grinder to flour it.

[Nobade]

"Spectracide Stump Remover" states "Contains potassium nitrate" - is that 100% or some kinda blend with additives?

It's got salt-like granules so I'll use the ceramic burr grinder to flour it.

No, it is not pure. It should be purified before use if you want the best powder possible.

[FrankJD]

No, it is not pure. It should be purified before use if you want the best powder possible.

How to purify?

[Brimstone]

Look into 50lb bags of Haifa Multi K GG(greenhouse grade). Works perfectly. I love how they say it contains only 100% pure potassium and nitrogen.

So does that mean it contains potassiumed nitrogen or nitrated potassium? I wonder.

[LAGS]

Back when I used the Spectracide Stump Remover for my KNO 3.
I would put it in a pan and boil it in distilled water.
Then let it dry into the Crystals again.
I would break them up and grind the crystals back into fine powder.

[HWooldridge]

I buy from Duda Diesel.

https://www.dudadiesel.com/search.ph...ium+nitrate%22

[almar]

You can use recrystaltion to purify kn03. Dissolve the crystals in as little hot water as possible to ensure a uniform solution, let it cool down and filter out the crystals. More details in the book mentioned previously (like fire ...something). You loose some kno3 but what you get is pure being that most of the impurities are in the water filtered out. Easier and probably cheaper in the end to buy pure.

[FrankJD]

I buy from Duda Diesel.

https://www.dudadiesel.com/search.ph...ium+nitrate%22

That's a great link, thanx! 99.8% minimum purity, too! Just gotta grind it down to fine powder.

[HWooldridge]

That's a great link, thanx! 99.8% minimum purity, too! Just gotta grind it down to fine powder.

Yes, it does have to be ground but works well otherwise.

[FrankJD]

Yes, it does have to be ground but works well otherwise.

Yep. And their sulfur looks good, too.

[HWooldridge]

Yep. And their sulfur looks good, too.

Ditto - I also buy my sulfur from Duda.